Forwardly extending product information tags adapted to overlie elongated product support hooks to provide a display portion or label holder forwardly of the distal end of the hook are now well known. Such hooks commonly have a proximal end adapted to be attached to a support surface such as an apertured board, a wire grid or the like, an elongated intermediate portion projecting substantially horizontally from the support surface for carrying product, and a free distal end. There are many different forms of such hooks, several styles being illustratively shown, for example, in Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,944, issued Jul. 2, 1985 (the Fast '944 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,570, issued Nov. 3, 1987 (the Fast '570 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,135, issued Dec. 29, 1987 (the Fast '135 patent) and Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,563, issued July 1988 (the Fast '563 patent), the subject matter of each of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Commonly, such hooks have a single elongated merchandise support rod, the distal end of which may be passed through apertures formed in the cards of blister-packed or other such products. Alternatively, the hook can be formed of a pair of laterally spaced rods or a double rod formed by a U-shaped loop of plastic or metal. The two rods of a double rod may be used to individually support apertured products or, like a double looped hook, can receive products with elongated slots defined therein.
Depending on the type of support, the proximal end of such hooks may take various forms. For example, the mounting means may include a pair of spaced, horizontally extending arms which project through two openings in an apertured board, and are bent upwardly behind the board so as to retain the bracket and support hook in place. With a single rod, the mounting arms may be carried by a cross bar or be formed as part of a mounting plate to which the proximal end of the support hook is secured. In the case of the double looped hook, the proximal ends of the rods may include generally upwardly extending arms or sections adapted to be engaged in juxtaposed openings of an apertured board or the like.
In the prior art, various forms of mounting means are provided on the proximal end of forwardly extending product identification tags adapted for use with such elongated hooks. For example, in Windish U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,510, issued Aug. 7, 1984 (the Windish patent), the subject matter of which is also incorporated herein by reference, a plurality of longitudinally spaced pairs of apertures are provided, one pair of apertures being adapted to receive the arms of the mounting portion of a hook, with other pairs of apertures forming weakened portions enabling the tag to be bent for selectively adjusting the length of the tag to accommodate hooks of various sizes. The Fast '944 patent illustrates a mounting portion on the tag comprising multiple apertured or slotted panels foldable in different ways to receive the arms of the mounting portions of either a single or double loop-style hook.
While elongated hooks of the type described are commonly carried by apertured boards, oftentimes such hooks are adapted to be affixed to a different type of supporting surface such as elongated rods, grids, angle irons, plates or racks. Over the years, various adaptations of forwardly extending product information tags have been developed for use with such different forms of elongated hooks. Exemplary of such products, are those shown in Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,454, issued Mar. 3, 1987 (the Fast '454 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,639, issued May 19, 1987 (the Fast '639 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,024, issued Sep. 15, 1987 (the Fast '024 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,595, issued Sep. 22, 1987 (the Fast '595 patent), Fast U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,929, issued Oct. 13, 1987 (the Fast '929 patent), and Gebka U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,175, issued Nov. 16, 1993 (the Gebka patent), the subject matter of all of the aforementioned patents being incorporated herein in their entireties by reference thereto.
For the most part, forwardly extending product information display tags of the type described have been adapted to be supported in one form or another at their proximal end at the point where the proximal end of the hook is secured to a support surface. However, considering the variety of hook and support surface constructions, this generally required different tags to be designed for each application.
The one thing common to substantially all such hook arrangements is at least one forwardly extending elongated rod adapted to carry products. In Karnes et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,080, issued Jun. 19, 1990 (the Karnes et al patent), support for the proximal end of the forwardly extending elongated tag is provided by a separate element in the form of a saddle member slidably and removably mounted on the elongate intermediate rod-like portion of the hook, generally adjacent the proximal end of the hook. The Karnes et al saddle can have a single clasp or other such element for mounting the same on a hook with a single rod, or a pair of spaced clasps or the like for mounting the same on a double-loop hook.
The saddle member defines a generally horizontally extending support surface with upstanding projections adapted to be frictionally engaged in complementary apertures defined in the mounting portion of the tag. The use of such a saddle member enables the elongated forwardly extending product information tag to be readily secured to a hook, without removing the hook from its engagement with an apertured board or other such support member. Moreover, with the saddle member carried by the forwardly extending rod-like portion of the hook, the mounting portion of the tag is not dependent upon the manner in which the support hook is engaged with an apertured board or other such support member. Thus, the design of the tag can be more universal.
Heretofore, forwardly extending product information tags adapted for use with a saddle member such as shown in the Karnes et al patent have been marketed with a plurality of longitudinally spaced pairs of apertures complementary to the saddle member support projections whereby the tag can be shortened to adapt the same to hooks of different lengths by cutting off unwanted portions of the proximal end of the tag at a point between a selected pair of mounting apertures. Such a design requires the use of a pair of scissors or other such cutting means, oftentimes not readily available. In addition to the need for an extraneous tool to adjust the length of an elongated tag of this nature, the cutting operation is time consuming, and if the cut is not true, the tag may not fit properly and can be unsightly.